Improvement in portable railways



J. K. DAVIS. Portable Railway.

if 4- Patented Dec. 2, I879 FiSJ.

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N- PETERS PHOTO LITHOGRAPHER WASWIQGTON. D C,

JOHN K. DAVIS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORTO WILLIAM f1 OJALLISON a 00.,

OF SAME PLACE.

.IMP ROVEMENT lN PORTABLE RAILWAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,254, dated Decen1he12, 187 9 application filed September 26, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN K. DAVIS, of the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Portable Railways, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification and accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of sections of the portable railway embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged View of portions thereof. Fig. 3 is an end view of a portion thereof. Fig. 4. is a perspective view of the connectingshoe of the sections. 7

Similar letters of reference. indicate correspondin g parts in the several figures.

My invention consists in connecting the sections of a portable railway by means of shoes, which hold them firmly in place, and permit their displacement when required, each shoe being constructed of a,,depressed portion, an overhanging port-ion, and a connecting-plate, said depressed and overhanging portions flaring at the mouth of the shoe.

Referring to the drawings, A A represent sections of a portable railway, and B the cross-ties secured thereto.

To the cross-ties are bolted or riveted shoes 0 0, each of which consists of a piece of malleable or other suitable metal having a depressed portion, a, extending longitudinally, a curved,overhanging side piece, 0, and a plate, d, by which the shoe is secured to the cross-tie. The rails are bolted, to the crossties, and theshoesare located adjacent there-' to, so that one end of each rail enters aportion of the space of the depression a, while a portion of the overhanging piece 0 embraces one side of the base of the rail. The shoulder 'b, at the junction of the depression a and plate d,rests against the side of the base of the rail opposite to the overhanging piece 0,

so that the end of the rail firmly secured to the cross-ties is further clamped by the said piece 0, and confined by the shoulder 11, thus providing a firm connection of the rails and cross-ties. i

The portion of the space of the depression a and overhanging piece 0 unoccupied by the end of the rail is flaring, and adapted to receive the end of the rail of another section.

In practice a shoe is connected to the diago- ,nal corners of each section of the railway, and

the other diagonal corners have merely the projecting free ends of the rails, so that the sections are interchangeable. l

The operation is as follows: When one section of the railway is laid another section is presented to it, and the free ends of the rails directed into the projecting portions of the shoe, and so other sections are manipulated until the desired length of the railway is accomplished.

It will be seen that the free ends of the rails are held by the overhanging pieces 0, and prevented from lateral motion by means of the shoulders I) in contact with said ends, wherefore the sections are well coupled and retained in position.

When it is required to remove a section or take up the track, adjacent sections are lifted, and, owing to the flaring form of the depressions c and overhanging pieces c,a certain amount of play is permitted to the ends of the section, whereby by proper working of said ends the free ends of the rails emerge from the shoes, and thus the relative sections are disconnected.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

, 1. The coupling for sections of a portable railway, consisting of the shoe 0, constructed of the depressed portion a, with shoulder 12 and overhanging portion 0, saidpor'tions a and I) being flaring at the mouth of the shoe, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

2. The sections of a portable railway, provided with shoes constructed of the depressed portions to, overhanging portions 0, and connecting-plates d, substantially as and for the purpose set forth. l

J. K2 DAVIS.

Witnesses:

D. L. SYLvEs'rER, J OHN A. WIEDERsHEIM. 

